Ex-DSS Director Reveals What Happened In Abacha’s Final Moments

Abacha, who governed Nigeria from November 1993 until his death in June 1998, died while in office under circumstances that have fuelled speculation and conspiracy theories for decades.

Amachree detailed his version of events in his newly released book, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, excerpts of which were published by The Nation.

According to the retired intelligence officer, he was serving as Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos Command of the then State Security Service when Abacha died.

Amachree alleged that a woman identified as Abacha’s girlfriend arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House in Abuja in the early hours of the day the former military ruler died. He claimed she was accompanied by her younger sister, a pharmacist who was attending a professional conference in the Federal Capital Territory.

“At about 2:40 a.m., shortly after Gen. Useni left, Abacha’s girlfriend, an Igbo lady, arrived at the Aso Rock Guest House from the Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel,” the book stated.

He further claimed that the younger sister was later left alone with Abacha after the elder sister returned to the hotel.

According to Amachree, around 4:05 a.m., the woman noticed that Abacha had become unresponsive and was unable to detect a pulse.

The retired DSS officer said the woman panicked, left the guest house and informed the soldier on duty that Abacha had asked for a vehicle to take her back to the hotel.

“The soldier, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, immediately arranged transportation for her,” he wrote.

Amachree said the woman later reunited with her sister at the hotel before being taken to the airport to catch an early morning flight to Lagos.

He added that security operatives launched efforts to locate her after Abacha’s aides discovered what had happened.

“The State Security Service was immediately alerted and went to the Hilton to arrest the girlfriend, but the pharmacist they urgently needed was already on her way to Lagos,” he stated.

According to Amachree, he later received instructions from the Director of Operations at the DSS headquarters to trace the woman in Lagos.

He said his team eventually located her in the Ogudu area and brought her in for questioning.

“My team found and brought her to my office. I personally interrogated her,” he recalled.

Amachree quoted the woman as denying any involvement in Abacha’s death.

“The first thing she told me was, ‘I did not kill him; he died on top of me,’” he wrote.

He said she gave investigators a detailed account of the incident before she was flown back to Abuja.

Amachree argued that her testimony contradicted long-standing claims linking Abacha’s death to foreign women or poisoned fruit, insisting instead that the former Head of State suffered what he described as a coitus-induced cardiac arrest.

“The lady pharmacist’s account, on whom Abacha apparently had a coitus-induced cardiac arrest, remains the true position and puts an end to the conspiracy theories and half-truths that have gone viral,” he wrote.

The account reflects Amachree’s personal recollection of the incident as presented in his book and has not been independently verified in the published excerpts.

Abacha died on June 8, 1998, while serving as Nigeria’s military Head of State. His death came barely a month before the passing of Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, who had been detained by the Abacha administration after declaring himself president.